Lyric Opera 2023-2024 Issue 6 - Champion

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 30 REGINALD SMITH, JR. EMILE GRIFFITH Previously at Lyric: Uncle Paul/ Fire Shut Up in My Bones (2021/22). The Grammy- and Emmy-winning baritone made his Santa Fe Opera debut in summer 2023 as Scarpia in Tosca , and this season returns to Houston Grand Opera for the title role in Falstaff , and in concert with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and at Temple University. Later this season, he will sing Amonasro in Aida at Lyric. Other recent highlights include a return to the Houston Grand Opera, debuts with Fort Worth Opera, Opera Hong Kong, and the Dallas Opera, and appearances with various orchestras including the San Francisco Symphony and the New Jersey Symphony. He also took part in a United in Song concert with the American Pops Orchestra, televised nationally on PBS, and performed in recitals at Mercer University and the Richard Tucker Music Foundation’s annual gala. Smith is a Grand Finals winner of the 2015 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and a graduate of the Houston Grand Opera Studio. JUSTIN AUSTIN YOUNG EMILE GRIFFITH Previously at Lyric: Charles/ Fire Shut Up in My Bones (2021/22). The baritone, a 2023 Marian Anderson Vocal Award recipient, returns to the Metropolitan Opera this season as Motorcycle Cop in the company’s premiere of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking . He will present a solo recital at the Park Avenue Armory with pianist Howard Watkins, with whom he also gives recitals at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall, the Longy School of Music with Celebrity Series of Boston, University of Delaware with Delaware’s Master Players Concert Series, and Atlanta’s Spivey Hall. In 2021/22 he starred as George Armstrong in Lynn Nottage’s and Ricky Ian Gordon’s Intimate Apparel at Lincoln Center, for which he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award, and joined Des Moines Metro Opera as Thomas McKeller in Damien Geter and Lila Palmer’s American Apollo . In the 2020/21 season, he starred as Captain Macheath in a film adaptation of The Threepenny Opera produced by City Lyric Opera, and debuted at the Bard SummerScape Festival as Mordred in Chausson’s Le roi Arthus . A former resident artist at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (2017/18 season), Austin has performed at the Glimmerglass Festival and with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Bayerische Staatsoper. The baritone has an expansive repertoire, and has collaborated with groups and artists such as Aretha Franklin, The Boys Choir of Harlem, Mary J. Blige, Elton John, Lauryn Hill, The Roots, 30 Seconds to Mars, John Cale, and jazz legends Reggie Workman, Hugh Masekela, and Wynton Marsalis. WHITNEY MORRISON EMELDA GRIFFITH Previously at Lyric: Six roles since 2017/18, most recently Yasmine Miller/ Proximity (2022/23) and Billie/ Fire Shut Up in My Bones (2021/22). The soprano, a Chicago native and a Ryan Opera Center alumna, received a 2023 Grammy nomination for Boston Modern Orchestra Project’s recording of X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X , in which she sang the role of Louise/Betty. In 2022, she made her debut with Detroit Opera in the same role and reprised it with Opera Omaha and Odyssey Opera, before going on to record it with BMOP. Recent highlights include performances with Chicago Opera Theater as Lady Billows in Albert Herring , and a debut at the Bavarian State Opera in the world premiere of Marina Abramovic’s 7 Deaths of Maria Callas as Floria Tosca. Her appearances at Lyric include Sister Rose/ Dead Man Walking (2019/20) and First Cretan Woman/ Idomeneo (2018/19). Other recent highlights include the Harris Theater’s Beyond the Aria series; Miss Pinkerton/ The Old Maid and the Thief at the Grant Park Music Festival; an appearance at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy; a debut at Rochester’s Kodak Hall with the Eastman Wind Ensemble; and Donna Anna/ Don Giovanni with Chicago’s Floating Opera Company. A graduate of Alabama’s Oakwood University, Morrison completed her training at the Eastman School of Music (master’s degree), Germany’s Neil Semer Vocal Institute, and Italy’s Georg Solti Accademia di Bel Canto. MARTIN LUTHER CLARK LUIS RODRIGO GRIFFITH Previously at Lyric: CJ/ The Factotum (2022/23), Adult William and Chicken Plucker/ Fire Shut Up in My Bones (2021/22). This season, the Ryan Opera Center alum will make debuts with Houston Grand Opera and Portland Opera, alongside performances of the title role of Candide with Madison Opera and Handel’s Messiah with the Florida Orchestra and the South Dakota Symphony. Among Clark’s notable roles are the Orderly/ The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Dallas Opera), and Vaudemont/ Iolanta and King Charles/ The Maid of Orleans (both with Russian Opera Workshop). He was also heard as a Central City Opera Apprentice Artist and as tenor soloist at the Library of Congress, where he sang both published and unpublished works of Leonard Bernstein for the centennial celebration of the composer’s birth. Other appearances include Lyric Opera of Kansas City (Resident Artist), University of North Texas Opera (numerous roles and galas), Charlottesville Opera, Opera in Concert, Opera North, and Wolf Trap Opera. Originally fromMarshall, Texas, Artist profiles